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LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 507
Introduced by Conrad, 46.
Read first time January 17, 2023
Committee: Judiciary
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to juveniles; to amend sections 28-709,
2 43-247, 43-252, 43-260.03, 43-260.05, 43-2404, 43-2404.03, 43-3504,
3 79-201, 79-207, 79-210, 79-267, 79-1601, and 79-2114, Reissue
4 Revised Statutes of Nebraska, and sections 25-2912.01, 43-245,
5 43-247.03, 43-248, 43-251.01, 43-260.04, 43-274, 43-276, 43-286,
6 43-2404.02, 79-209, and 79-2506, Revised Statutes Cumulative
7 Supplement, 2022; to change the jurisdiction of juvenile courts as
8 prescribed; to change provisions and terminology related to truancy;
9 to eliminate obsolete language; to change provisions related to
10 funding and compulsory education; to transfer a duty; to clarify
11 provisions; to add authority for rules and regulations; to harmonize
12 provisions; and to repeal the original sections.
13 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. Section 25-2912.01, Revised Statutes Cumulative
2 Supplement, 2022, is amended to read:
3 25-2912.01 Restorative justice practices, restorative justice
4 services, or restorative justice programs include, but are not limited
5 to, victim youth conferences, victim-offender mediation, family group
6 conferences, circles, peer-to-peer mediation, excessive absenteeism
7 truancy mediation, victim or community panels, and community conferences.
8 Restorative justice programs may involve restorative projects or classes
9 and facilitated meetings attended voluntarily by the victim, the victim's
10 representatives, or a victim surrogate and the victim's supporters, as
11 well as the youth or adult individual who caused harm and that
12 individual's supporters, whether voluntarily or following a referral for
13 assessment by court order. These meetings may also include community
14 members, when appropriate. By engaging the parties to the offense or harm
15 in voluntary dialogue, restorative justice provides an opportunity for
16 healing for the victim and the individual who harmed the victim by:
17 (1) Holding the individual who caused harm accountable and providing
18 the individual a platform to accept responsibility and gain empathy for
19 the harm he or she caused to the victim and community;
20 (2) Providing the victim a platform to describe the impact that the
21 harm had upon himself or herself or his or her family and to identify
22 detriments experienced or any losses incurred;
23 (3) Providing the opportunity to enter into a reparation plan
24 agreement; and
25 (4) Enabling the victim and the individual who caused harm the
26 opportunity to agree on consequences to repair the harm, to the extent
27 possible. This includes, but is not limited to, apologies, community
28 service, reparation, restitution, restoration, and counseling.
29 Sec. 2. Section 28-709, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
30 amended to read:
31 28-709 (1) Any person who, by any act, encourages, causes, or
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1 contributes to the delinquency or need for special supervision of a child
2 under eighteen years of age, so that such child becomes, or will tend to
3 become, a delinquent child, or a child in need of special supervision,
4 commits contributing to the delinquency of a child.
5 (2) The following definitions shall be applicable to this section:
6 (a) Delinquent child shall mean any child under the age of eighteen
7 years who has violated any law of the state or any city or village
8 ordinance; and
9 (b) A child in need of special supervision shall mean any child
10 under the age of eighteen years (i) who, by reason of being wayward or
11 habitually disobedient, is uncontrolled by his or her parent, guardian,
12 or custodian; (ii) who is habitually absent truant from school or home;
13 or (iii) who deports himself or herself so as to injure or endanger
14 seriously the morals or health of himself, herself, or others.
15 (3) Contributing to the delinquency of a child is a Class I
16 misdemeanor.
17 Sec. 3. Section 43-245, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
18 2022, is amended to read:
19 43-245 For purposes of the Nebraska Juvenile Code, unless the
20 context otherwise requires:
21 (1) Abandonment means a parent's intentionally withholding from a
22 child, without just cause or excuse, the parent's presence, care, love,
23 protection, and maintenance and the opportunity for the display of
24 parental affection for the child;
25 (2) Age of majority means nineteen years of age;
26 (3) Alternative to detention means a program or directive that
27 increases supervision of a youth in the community in an effort to ensure
28 the youth attends court and refrains from committing a new law violation.
29 Alternative to detention includes, but is not limited to, electronic
30 monitoring, day and evening reporting centers, house arrest, tracking,
31 family crisis response, and temporary shelter placement. Except for the
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1 use of manually controlled delayed egress of not more than thirty
2 seconds, placements that utilize physical construction or hardware to
3 restrain a youth's freedom of movement and ingress and egress from
4 placement are not considered alternatives to detention;
5 (4) Approved center means a center that has applied for and received
6 approval from the Director of the Office of Dispute Resolution under
7 section 25-2909;
8 (5) Civil citation means a noncriminal notice which cannot result in
9 a criminal record and is described in section 43-248.02;
10 (6) Cost or costs means (a) the sum or equivalent expended, paid, or
11 charged for goods or services, or expenses incurred, or (b) the
12 contracted or negotiated price;
13 (7) Criminal street gang means a group of three or more people with
14 a common identifying name, sign, or symbol whose group identity or
15 purposes include engaging in illegal activities;
16 (8) Criminal street gang member means a person who willingly or
17 voluntarily becomes and remains a member of a criminal street gang;
18 (9) Custodian means a nonparental caretaker having physical custody
19 of the juvenile and includes an appointee described in section 43-294;
20 (10) Guardian means a person, other than a parent, who has qualified
21 by law as the guardian of a juvenile pursuant to testamentary or court
22 appointment, but excludes a person who is merely a guardian ad litem;
23 (11) Juvenile means any person under the age of eighteen;
24 (12) Juvenile court means the separate juvenile court where it has
25 been established pursuant to sections 43-2,111 to 43-2,127 and the county
26 court sitting as a juvenile court in all other counties. Nothing in the
27 Nebraska Juvenile Code shall be construed to deprive the district courts
28 of their habeas corpus, common-law, or chancery jurisdiction or the
29 county courts and district courts of jurisdiction of domestic relations
30 matters as defined in section 25-2740;
31 (13) Juvenile detention facility has the same meaning as in section
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1 83-4,125;
2 (14) Legal custody has the same meaning as in section 43-2922;
3 (15) Mental health facility means a treatment facility as defined in
4 section 71-914 or a government, private, or state hospital which treats
5 mental illness;
6 (16) Nonoffender means a juvenile who is subject to the jurisdiction
7 of the juvenile court for reasons other than legally prohibited conduct,
8 including, but not limited to, juveniles described in subdivision (3)(a)
9 of section 43-247;
10 (17) Parent means one or both parents or a stepparent stepparents
11 when the stepparent is married to a parent who has physical custody of
12 the juvenile as of the filing of the petition;
13 (18) Parties means the juvenile as described in section 43-247 and
14 his or her parent, guardian, or custodian;
15 (19) Physical custody has the same meaning as in section 43-2922;
16 (20) Except in proceedings under the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare
17 Act, relative means father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother,
18 sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt,
19 first cousin, nephew, or niece;
20 (21) Restorative justice means practices, programs, or services that
21 emphasize repairing the harm caused to victims and the community by
22 persons who have caused the harm or committed an offense. Restorative
23 justice practices may include, but are not limited to, victim youth
24 conferencing, victim-offender mediation, youth or community dialogue,
25 panels, circles, and excessive absenteeism truancy mediation;
26 (22) Restorative justice facilitator means a qualified individual
27 who has been trained to facilitate restorative justice practices. A
28 qualified individual shall be approved by the referring county attorney,
29 city attorney, or juvenile or county court judge. Factors for approval
30 may include, but are not limited to, an individual's education and
31 training in restorative justice principles and practices; experience in
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1 facilitating restorative justice sessions; understanding of the necessity
2 to do no harm to either the victim or the person who harmed the victim;
3 and proven commitment to ethical practices;
4 (23) Seal a record means that a record shall not be available to the
5 public except upon the order of a court upon good cause shown;
6 (24) Secure detention means detention in a highly structured,
7 residential, hardware-secured facility designed to restrict a juvenile's
8 movement;
9 (25) Staff secure juvenile facility means a juvenile residential
10 facility operated by a political subdivision (a) which does not include
11 construction designed to physically restrict the movements and activities
12 of juveniles who are in custody in the facility, (b) in which physical
13 restriction of movement or activity of juveniles is provided solely
14 through staff, (c) which may establish reasonable rules restricting
15 ingress to and egress from the facility, and (d) in which the movements
16 and activities of individual juvenile residents may, for treatment
17 purposes, be restricted or subject to control through the use of
18 intensive staff supervision. Staff secure juvenile facility does not
19 include any institution operated by the Department of Correctional
20 Services;
21 (26) Status offender means a juvenile who has been charged with or
22 adjudicated for conduct which would not be a crime if committed by an
23 adult, including, but not limited to, juveniles charged under subdivision
24 (3)(b) of section 43-247 and sections 53-180.01 and 53-180.02;
25 (27) Traffic offense means any nonfelonious act in violation of a
26 law or ordinance regulating vehicular or pedestrian travel, whether
27 designated a misdemeanor or a traffic infraction; and
28 (28) Young adult means an individual older than eighteen years of
29 age but under twenty-one years of age.
30 Sec. 4. Section 43-247, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
31 amended to read:
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1 43-247 The juvenile court in each county shall have jurisdiction of:
2 (1) Any juvenile who has committed an act other than a traffic
3 offense which would constitute a misdemeanor or an infraction under the
4 laws of this state, or violation of a city or village ordinance, and who,
5 beginning July 1, 2017, was eleven years of age or older at the time the
6 act was committed;
7 (2) Any juvenile who has committed an act which would constitute a
8 felony under the laws of this state and who, beginning July 1, 2017, was
9 eleven years of age or older at the time the act was committed;
10 (3) Any juvenile:
11 (a) Who who is homeless or destitute, or without proper support
12 through no fault of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; who is
13 abandoned by his or her parent, guardian, or custodian; who lacks proper
14 parental care by reason of the fault or habits of his or her parent,
15 guardian, or custodian; whose parent, guardian, or custodian neglects or
16 refuses to provide proper or necessary subsistence, education, or other
17 care necessary for the health, morals, or well-being of such juvenile;
18 whose parent, guardian, or custodian is unable to provide or neglects or
19 refuses to provide special care made necessary by the mental condition of
20 the juvenile; who is in a situation or engages in an occupation,
21 including prostitution, dangerous to life or limb or injurious to the
22 health or morals of such juvenile; or who, beginning July 1, 2017, has
23 committed an act or engaged in behavior described in subdivision (1),
24 (2), (3)(b), or (4) of this section and who was under eleven years of age
25 at the time of such act or behavior;
26 (b) Who , (b)(i) who, until July 1, 2017, by reason of being wayward
27 or habitually disobedient, is uncontrolled by his or her parent,
28 guardian, or custodian; who deports himself or herself so as to injure or
29 endanger seriously the morals or health of himself, herself, or others;
30 or who is habitually truant from home or school or (ii) who, beginning
31 July 1, 2017, is eleven years of age or older and, by reason of being
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1 wayward or habitually disobedient, is uncontrolled by his or her parent,
2 guardian, or custodian; who deports himself or herself so as to injure or
3 endanger seriously the morals or health of himself, herself, or others;
4 or who is habitually truant from home; or school, or
5 (c) Who who is mentally ill and dangerous as defined in section
6 71-908;
7 (4) Any juvenile who has committed an act which would constitute a
8 traffic offense as defined in section 43-245 and who, beginning July 1,
9 2017, was eleven years of age or older at the time the act was committed;
10 (5) The parent, guardian, or custodian of any juvenile described in
11 this section;
12 (6) The proceedings for termination of parental rights;
13 (7) Any juvenile who has been voluntarily relinquished, pursuant to
14 section 43-106.01, to the Department of Health and Human Services or any
15 child placement agency licensed by the Department of Health and Human
16 Services;
17 (8) Any juvenile who was a ward of the juvenile court at the
18 inception of his or her guardianship and whose guardianship has been
19 disrupted or terminated;
20 (9) The adoption or guardianship proceedings for a child over which
21 the juvenile court already